


Ruins

by Silenton



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Might add more tags later, My First Fanfic, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silenton/pseuds/Silenton
Summary: In a wild, wild world, there were two wolf brothers. One day, tragedy struck, and everything changed.





	1. i. Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I never meant to hurt you_   
>  _Please never go away_   
>  _I did it all for you, don't say I never tried_   
>  _I wanna protect you so that you never die_

“Daniel! Do it!” Concentrating all his energy to the piece of metal in Merrill’s hands, Daniel flung the gun out of his hands. In a state of disbelief, Merrill grabbed for his pistol but found himself tackled to the ground by Sean.

“Get out! Run!” As both men fall, the gun slid across the floor. Merrill overpowered the teen and recovered his gun, taking aim at Daniel. “Wait! Stop!” Daniel reaches out, attempting to throw the gun from Merrill’s hand one more time - but he’s too late. The gunshot rang loud in the boy’s ears, and he felt a tight, burning pressure in his right shoulder. In an instant, everything flew. The two older boys were thrown back, some of the items on Merrill’s shelves falling on top of Sean upon impact. He looked upon the room, emotions racing through his mind. Fear, anger, pain. Oh my God, the pain. It was unbearable. Everything in the house floated and spiraled, the lights flickered at an alarming pace. The young boy let out a scream, and everything went flying.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Daniel awoke to a pitch black room. Letting his eyes adjust for a moment, he realized that he was still in Merrill’s living room. He tried to get up, but fell over, feeling light-headed. Coughing violently, he crawled towards the wall and got up slowly. He flipped the light switch on… then off… then back on again. Is… is the power out? He thought to himself, Did I do that...? Spotting his older brother’s flashlight on the floor, he hobbled over and picked it up. Turning it on, he looked around the room, seeing the figure of his brother.

“Sean!” Rushing over, he tripped and fell to the ground, which led to another violent coughing fit. He could feel a foul, coppery taste in his mouth. Gagging, he reached forward for the flashlight, crawling towards his older brother. “Sean! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” He gathered all of his strength to get back up. “Sean, we need to-” He stopped dead in his tracks. The light shone on his brother, slumped on the ground. His hand shaking, he rose the light to his brother’s face. “...Sean?”  
Warm tears filled his eyes and fell down his cheeks, seeing his brother in such a shape. Daniel fell to the ground at Sean’s side. “Sean! Sean, wake up.” He shook his brother. “Sean, stop messing around. Wake up, please!” Despite his best efforts, Sean remained unresponsive. He whipped his head around.

“FINN! Please help me, Sean's hurt, I think he might be-,” his words died in his throat. Finn also lied on the ground. His lip quivering, Daniel turned back to his brother. “SEAN! GET UP!” He threw himself into his brother, sobbing. Raising his face from his brother’s now tear-stained hoodie, Daniel slowly spoke to himself. “Wh-what did he tell me to do, if anything went wrong…,” he thought to himself. He slowly stood, turning his attention to the safe. That safe, the reason they were here to begin with. Slowly, but surely, he walked over and gathered as much money as he could. He would need it for the trip ahead. He had only taken a few steps away from his brother before the same burning pain shot up again in his right shoulder. He shrieked, dropping everything in his tiny hands. He fell to his knees, grasping his shoulder, wincing at the touch. Slowly, but surely, he got back to his feet, and began to walk again, forgetting about the money. The pain had taken up his mind, distracting him, so when he tripped over the debris outside of the house, he fell HARD. He let out a squeak and looked down at his twisted ankle. He tried once again to get up, pain surging through his leg. He slumped to the ground onto his stomach and began dragging himself across the floor. “I just… need to… get back… to camp,” he murmured to himself. He dragged himself along for what felt like only a couple of minutes, before tiring out. He flipped to his side, a painful decision that he regretted instantly. “I’ll just… rest here for a second. Just a second… that’s all I need.” His eyelids lowered gradually. “So tired... Just a quick rest, then I’ll get back to camp and get help…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, this is actually my first time writing a fanfic for any piece of media that I really like, so I hope it isn't too bad. I've always loved writing, and LiS2 has become a big hyperfixation of mine recently, so I thought _"Hey, why not put that into something that I've really been enjoying lately!"_
> 
> Please feel free to give constructive criticism, but don't be too harsh!! :))


	2. ii. Sean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _When it rain it pours_   
>  _But you didn't even notice_   
>  _It ain't rainin' anymore_   
>  _It's hard to breathe when all you know is_   
>  _The struggle of_   
>  _Staying above_   
>  _The rising water line_

A million thoughts raced through the teen’s mind. His life back home in Seattle; the days spent dicking around with his best friend, Lyla, not a care to be had in the world. The talks with his father, the time spent together as a family. That afternoon that changed everything, the innocence stripped from him and Daniel. 

_ Daniel… _

His time with his maternal grandparents; bonding with Claire over their shared interests in the arts, appreciating Stephen’s model train set. The time that Daniel was able to spend with his newfound friend Chris, the only person who he could feel like a normal child around for once. The cops finding them, forcing them to leave their family and friends, the way Daniel was torn over leaving everything that they had been building up in their new home. 

_ Daniel. _

Their new friends. His morning conversations with Penny and Ingrid, enjoying the time spent conversing with Cassidy and Hannah while trimming weed buds, his kiss with Finn. Finn’s plan, a heist that would give them more money then they could ever imagine being in possession of, it was supposed to be a piece of cake, especially with Daniel’s powers.

_!!!!!!!!!!DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!_

 

“Sean?” A voice, somewhere off in the distance. So quiet, so far away, and yet audible enough to grab his attention. “Sean!” Again, there it was. This time closer than before. Daniel’s voice? It had to be. “Sean!” Groggily, he woke up.

“F-Finn?” He sat up, embracing the other boy. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he tried to look up at Finn, but could only see out of one eye. He went up to touch his eye, but Finn grabbed his wrist and gently pulled it away.

“I’m going to be honest, sweetie. You don’t look so good right now, we need to get you some medical help, FAST.” Sean sat up quickly, scanning the room. 

“Where’s Daniel? And Merrill?” He looked around the disheveled room again, expecting the two of them to suddenly materialize out of thin air.

“Oh God, I don’t know. They were both gone when I came to,” Finn rose to his feet and helped Sean up as well, “but we need to take care of you first.” Sean only nodded, letting Finn lead the way to the bathroom. Sean liked this feeling, holding hands with Finn. The way their fingers intertwined, the tightness of his grip, it was… nice. Entering the bathroom was a change of pace for Sean. The bright, fluorescent lighting, the clean and pristine look to it. It was a bit overwhelming, to be honest, the first clean bathroom he had been in a for a long while. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, anxiously gripping the sides as he stared at Finn, fishing through cabinets and drawers.

“What are you looking for, exactly?” he asked, getting up to try and help. Finn looked back.

“Trying to find a washcloth, to clean your wounds and what not. Don’t worry your pretty little head, I got this. Just sit down and relax, I’m gonna go look around and see if Merrill has any around his house.” With that, Finn left Sean alone. Taking advantage of the situation, Sean slowly inched towards the sink and looked up towards his reflection in the mirror. Despite the dried blood on his face, he could still make out the damage that had been done the night prior.

 

His nose was bent and bruised, a result of Merrill hitting him square in the face with the butt of his gun. The rest of his face didn’t look any better, bruises lining his cheeks, temples, and his one good eye. The other? Sean could barely hold back the tears welling in his eye. One giant shard had been embedded into his eye. The creaking of the floor alerted Sean to Finn’s arrival. Quickly wiping his tears, he rushed back to the tub and sat down, just in time as Finn reemerged.

 

Sean was surprised how effectively Finn cared for him. “Where did you learn to do all this?” he asked, wincing slightly as the other boy applied the wet washcloth to his eye.

“Merrill taught me. There was this one really young guy that came through around the time we started working here. He cut himself pretty badly, and Merrill put me in charge of caring for him. He taught the whole lot of us after that about caring for wounds ‘n’ shit, in case something like that happened again.” Finn left the room once again to get ice to take care of Sean’s nose. He ultimately decided that Sean needed a real doctor to care for his eye, and decided to stop at that. The two were making their way out of the bathroom when a thought dawned on Sean.

“Shit, Daniel!” He whipped back around, facing Finn. “You said you didn’t see him when you woke up?” Sean didn’t wait for an answer, rushing out of the house instead, practically jumping down the stairs. “Daniel! Daniel, where are you?!” Sean looked around, desperately in search of his younger brother, Finn calling for him all the while. In the corner of his eye, he could see him. “Daniel!” He rushed over to his brother, glad to see him after the last night. As he inched closer and closer, he stopped dead in his tracks. All of that blood on his shoulder…, he slowly turned his head back, seeing the trail that had been made. He fell to his knees, covering his mouth to keep from hurling. Sean felt like he was suffocating, the lump in his throat taking up all his air. The tears came back, stinging in his eyes as he let out a deep sob that wracked his entire body.

 

The drive back to camp was silent. Finn tried his best to keep his eyes on the road but found himself sneaking looks to the other boy in the passenger seat. He said nothing, staring down, holding his brother in his arms. After parking the truck outside Big Joe’s house, Finn spoke to Sean. 

“You best head back and… tell everyone what happened. I’ll take Daniel from here.” Sean only nodded, slowly propping Daniel’s body onto the seat before trudging his way back to the camp. He was greeted by the familiar sound of the group going about their morning business. He stood for a moment, scanning the camp. Jacob was alone in his tent, as usual, Ingrid & Anders’ tent was completely gone. Did they leave already? I never got to say goodbye… In the distance, he could hear Hannah and Penny talking and laughing.

 

“There you are!” He turned his head, being met with a death glare and slap in the face from Cassidy. “I looked all over for you last night after I left for the lake! When I came back, I asked where you had gone, and Hannah told me you left half an hour ago with Daniel and Finn. I thought you were smarter than that, Sean, agreeing to that stupid plan. What the fuck were you thinking?” Every word stung, Sean found it hard to form the right words to respond to her. Cassidy’s face fell slightly. “Jesus Christ, Sean… what happened to you? Your eye…” Tears pooling in his eyes, Sean spoke.

“Everything went wrong, Cassidy. Everything. I-” he could barely finish his sentence, as Cassidy’s attention turned to Finn, walking back to the camp.

   “YOU! How dare you drag them into that, what in the hell were you-” she stopped, seeing the boy in Finn’s arms. “Oh my God… what happened?!” The others gathered around, staring directly at the three boys with shocked expressions.

“We were hoping y’all would help us give him a proper burial, at least. I was thinking one of them Viking funerals, I think the little dude would’ve liked that.” Finn shifted from one leg to the other, looking anxiously at Cassidy. She took a moment, thinking to herself, before answering.

“Fine, but… I’m only doing this for Daniel,” she turned to Sean, “and you too, Sean. That was one goddamn stupid plan y’all went through with, but I know I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t help you with this, especially now.”

 

It was surprising how fast a makeshift boat could be made with the right amount of people helping. It was a quiet night, and everyone gathered around the small boat, which held Daniel’s small body, along with some of the things that Sean would’ve wanted with him; his collection of Hawt Dawg Man comics, all the pinecones he had collected, the creepy blonde doll, and his mecha robot. After laying everything in the boat, everyone took a moment to say their goodbyes. Sean walked up to the boat, gripping its side tightly.

“I’m so sorry, enano. This shouldn’t have happened… say hi to dad and Mushroom for me, alright?” He left and stood next to Finn, who took him into his arms. Finn turned to Cassidy, Sean softly crying into his vest.

“Cass, if you could…?” Cassidy nodded, taking the torch in her hand and lighting the small boat. With one big push, it drifted off into the lake, floating away into the night.

 

Everything returned to normal again in the weeks following that night. Almost everything, at least.

“Is Sean still in there?” Hannah inquired, passing by the boy’s lone tent. After that night at the lake, Finn and the crew had convinced Big Joe to take them to a hospital to get Sean patched up. After this, Sean had isolated himself in his tent. The times one could see him were few and far between, only occasionally leaving his tent to use the bathroom. Cassidy, tuning her guitar, looked up to the tent.

“Yeah, nobody’s been able to reach him. He won’t even let Finn in, and you know how close those two are.” Cassidy turned her attention to Hannah. “I hope he’s doing okay. I said some pretty harsh things to him before we started building that boat for Daniel, I hope he doesn’t hold it against me.” Hannah let out a sigh.

“I’m sure it’s not just you, we just need to give him space, he’ll come back whenever he’s ready.” Cassidy looked back down to her guitar, continuing to pluck away.

“I hope you’re right, Hannah.” This carried on for the rest of the week, until one morning, it suddenly stopped. Everyone was gathered around the makeshift kitchen when they were startled by the sudden reappearance of Sean among them, who had silently sat down next to Finn at the table.

 

Cassidy was the first to speak. “Sean, it’s… good to see you again.” Sean looked up, interrupted from deep thought.

“Oh… thank you, Cassidy.” The rest of that morning was filled with an awkward silence, as the rest of the camp took occasional glances at Sean, deep in thought while leaning against Finn. For the rest of the week, Sean and Finn were practically attached to the hip. Wherever Finn would go, Sean would silently follow. The rest of the camp took this as Sean’s own way of coping with the death of his brother, and Finn? He was just glad to finally have Sean by his side again.

 

One night, the last three around the fire were Cassidy, Finn, and Sean. After talking for hours, Sean rose up suddenly. “I’m going to call it in for the night, I just want to head down to the lake real quick.” The two looked up at Sean. It became fairly common for him to go out for a nightly swim as of late, his only alone time after everything that had happened. Cassidy said her good nights, and Finn told him that he could stop by his tent later if he wished. Sean softly laughed, before waving goodbye. He reached the lake shortly after. Making sure that nobody was around, he slowly inched towards the brush, pulling out a small raft. While building the boat for Daniel, they had started out with only a small raft, abandoning it shortly after agreeing that it would only sink when on the water. All while sneaking out in the dead of night, Sean worked on it alone and often tested it to make sure it could hold his weight on the water. Laying it down by the shore, he went around and began picking up rocks.  _ Now _ , he thought to himself,  _ I need to find some rocks… _

Cassidy and Finn came to the decision of joining Sean down by the lake. After all, a midnight swim sounded nice, after all the hard work they had put into working at the farm. The walk to the lake was nice, the two engaging in small talk.

“So… why did you try that shit with Merrill? After everything we built here, all the work we had done, why try that?” Finn let out an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Jesus, Cass, I just… I wanted to help Sean and Daniel out. I know it was a dumb plan, but seriously, they deserved that money. I just thought that if I could help them get to Puerto Lobos with that money, it would make up for everything that happened to them.” Finn turned to her. “He means a lot to me, Cass. I wanted to make it up to him.” The two turned the corner leading into the lake when they noticed something from afar.

“What in the… what is he doing?” The two stopped dead in their tracks, watching Sean push himself on a raft into the lake. The two thought nothing of it, until Sean stood up, placing what looked like rocks into the pockets of his hoodie, then jumping feet first into the lake. Standing there for a moment, what had happened dawned on them when Sean failed to come back up from the water.

“What in the… oh my God, is he…?” Finn put his hands on Cassidy’s shoulders, turning her to face him.

“Go get the others, quickly!” Cassidy nodded, running off back into camp. Finn broke into a sprint down to the lake, trudging into the water. “Holy- so fucking cold…” Taking a deep breath, he sunk in down below. Despite the murkiness of the water, Finn was able to find Sean fairly quickly. The hard part, however, was lifting him back up. Wrapping his own arms underneath Sean’s, he struggled to try to lift the boy back up to shore.  _ Goddamnit, what the fuck. Did he put fucking rocks in his pockets? _ Putting all his strength into it, he finally lifted the boy above the water, paddling back to shore.

 

He dragged him to the sand, applying chest compressions and CPR. After about five or six rounds of this, Sean came too, choking and sputtering like a dying car engine. “Oh, thank God!” A few seconds later, he could hear the rest of camp trotting over. _Finally, what took them so goddamn long?_ His hot tears falling down his cheeks, Finn stared directly at him. “What in the hell were you thinking?”

Sean broke down, trying to twist out of Finn’s grasp. “It should’ve been me, I should’ve been the one to die back at that farm.” Sean sobbed into Finn’s soaked vest, “He was so young, Finn. It’s not fair!” Finn silently embraced the boy.

“Sean, I… I know it hurts, but it will all be alright. We’re here for you.” Sean felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking behind him, a pair of brown eyes staring back. “We’re all here for you, you’re one of us now, we’re… family.” The group gathered around him, taking him in their arms, and Sean let them. Burying his face into the crook of Finn’s neck, Sean wept. He embraced Finn, letting himself mourn. And at that moment, he swore he could feel another smaller pair of arms, wrapping around him just as tightly as the others.

 

His head on the boy’s chest, Sean laid in Finn’s tent. It was quiet that night, Finn had let him borrow some old clothes while they dried. Finn leaned his head down, placing a kiss on the top of Sean’s head. “Are… are you okay now? Is everything alright?” Sean looked up. Nothing was alright anymore. His father and brother now dead, on the run from the cops, four-hundred miles away from home. But here, everything felt like it was… enough. Like he could finally let himself settle down, here with his new family, with Finn. He smiled and wiped a tear from his eye. Leaning in, he kissed him on the lips.

“Everything is perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _If you could see what I see_   
>  _You'd be blinded by the colour_   
>  _Yellow, red and orange and green_   
>  _And at least a million others_   
>  _So tie up the boat_   
>  _Take off your coat_   
>  _And take a look around_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _'Cause the sky has finally opened_  
>  _The rain and wind stopped blowin'_  
>  _But you're stuck out in the same old storm again_  
>  _You hold tight to your umbrella_  
>  _Well, darling, I'm just tryin' to tell ya_  
>  _That there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head_
> 
>  
> 
> Hey y'all! Thank you for reading this, I hope it wasn't too amateurish, lol. Like I said in the first chapter, this is my first time ever sitting down and writing an actual fanfic, so excuse me if it isn't that great of quality. Please feel free to give constructive criticsm, I would love to hear what you all think!! :))


End file.
